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best interactive clothes

What passes for interactive clothing often consists of a button to control your iPod from your sleeve.

Here is a roundup of some more interesting interactive clothing ideas, including a jacket whose fur stands on end like a scared cat, a bikini whose breast pads inflate as a life saver and a jacket with a digital organism that grows as you wear it. These are alongside some more serious ideas such as a medical monitoring clothing and a robotic jacket to aid the paralysed. Some are fairly well known, but others are hopefully new to you.

(Ranked by user votes) Vote on and review the contenders below.

Swedish designers Thomas Bernstrand & Co created this piece called ‘Bay Watch’, for obvious reasons. I guess you could say that its interactive, in the sense that it swells up in the butt and breasts to create a life saver. The guy’s version is not so appealing, relying on a giant inflatable beer belly. Look under ‘art’ on the perma-linkable Flash site on the outlink.

Bikini Lifejacket. more...

(votes: +18)

This jacket has a pair of translucent ‘lungs’ sewn into the front. The more the wearer smokes, the darker the lungs become.

Fiona Carswell - Smoking Jacket. more...

(votes: +13)

Strips of fur become electrostatically charged and stand on end, rather like a cat, when the wearer is threatened. If someone comes closer they will feel the electromagnetic field and too close and they will get a 100,000 volt static shock.

Electrostatic fur warning jacket. more...

(votes: +11)

The Hug Shirt is a wonderful idea that became famous when exhibited at Wired magazine’s NextFest.

“The Hug Shirt is a shirt that makes people send hugs over distance! Embedded in the shirt there are sensors that feel the strength of the touch, the skin warmth and the heartbeat rate of the sender and actuators that recreate the sensation of touch, warmth and emotion of the hug to the shirt of the distant loved one.”

Hug shirt. more...

(votes: +11)

Kameraflage is a very novel idea that has been doing the rounds on blogs. In case you missed it, Kameraflage is a kind of digital watermarking technology that allows messages to be embedded in screens, billboards or even clothing. There’s a joke there somewhere.

kameraflage. more...

(votes: +9)

"A jacket inhabited by a Printed Organism, that appears and grows on the garment only when it is being worn for long enough."<p /><p />"When you wear the cotton jacket, the pattern, like a parasite or a wine plant, slowly comes to life as color until it reaches full visual bloom. When the jacket is removed again, the organism slowly dies out until it fades into a seamless printed pattern. The human body acts as a host and provides a support structure for the organism to grow on."

The printed organism jacket. more...

(votes: +9)

Whats very weird about the force feedback gamers jacket is that its actually the reverse of a bullet proof vest, which is what it most resembles. A bullet proof vest blocks real bullets, this creates the sensation of virtual ones. It goes one step beyond a rumble box.

Force feedback gamer jacket. more...

(votes: +8)

The Coniglio hat is pure genius. The pink bunny ears contain headphones, which are switched off when the ears stand up, indicating that the person is attentive. When they are wrapped around the ears then music can be listened to. The Coniglio hat has not been very popular in the Nascar/Pro-Wrestling demographic, however.

Coniglio Hat. more...

(votes: +8)

Designed to help patients recover from partial paralysis. Sensors at the elbow and wrist allow a healthy arm to control the eight artificial muscles, which are powered by compressed air, on the paralyzed side.

Robotic jacket. more...

(votes: +7)

The solar bikini is enough to continuously power an ipod while sunbathing.

“The suit is a standard medium-sized bikini swimsuit retrofitted with 1″ x 4″ photovoltaic film strips sewn together in series with conductive thread. The cells terminate in a 5 volt regulator into a female USB connection.”

Solar Bikini. more...

(votes: +7)

What makes the illuminated messaging system in NYXIT’s clothing more interesting than the embedded lighting in clubwear is that its completely flexible and washable.

NYXIT Illuminated clothing. more...

(votes: +6)

Shape memory alloys potentially allow for perfect fit adjustable shaped garments. When you run a particular current through a fabric a shape is created which is ‘remembered’ when the current is switched off. Apply a different current and a different shape is created. In other words you have programmable clothing. In the spring of 2007, fashion designer Hussein Chalayan exhibited a range of clothing which demonstrated the use of memory shape alloys in haute couture design.

Shape memory alloy clothing. more...

(votes: +5)

Beware of cheap imitations. Lumalive is much cooler than it looks in photos. In consists of LED lighting that is actually embedded in fabric strands.

Lumalive textile garments. more...

(votes: +3)

SNIF - Sexy New Intelligent Fragrance, is a patch that is supposed to monitor the surrounding environment and dispense just the right amount of perfume. It needs an instant refill after eating anything with chickpeas.

Worn Intelligent perfume dispenser. more...

(votes: +2)

We’ve included teh kinetic dress not so much for its innovation, but the fact that its animated design doesn’t look out of place on a dress which harks back to the 19th century, creating a wonderful juxtaposition.

Kinetic Dress. more...

(votes: +2)

At the cutting edge of interactive wear is the research into garments such as this which actually embed the properties of computing and sensory input devices into fabric itself. This allows for a true replication of an intelligent membrane, such as skin, in non-biological form.

Piezoresistive textiles. more...

(votes: +1)

This is another of Turkish fashion designer Hussein Chalayan’s interactive clothing range. Here, the entire mechanism for an electronically controlled dress is shown. This allows zippers to be closed, cloth gathered, and hemlines to rise, without human assistance. The computer system was designed by the London-based engineering and concept-creation firm 2D3D.

Shape Transforming Computerized Clothes. more...

(votes: +1)

A precursor to the idea of the Hug Shirt, which allows real time transmission of touch from an absent person, the TapTap allows for touch to be recorded then replayed. It taps into tapping.

TapTap haptic scarf. more...

(votes: +1)

Hearwear is apparel that lights up the more the ambient noise increases. Surprisingly its quite understated and designery. We would have opted for the obvious pun of a loud shirt and made everything look like something from Hawaii that the Big Lebowski would wear.

HearWear. more...

(votes: +1)

The Sensave is a good example of the serious side of interactive wear. It creates a mini ‘Body Area Network’ of sensors which monitor vital signs and relay them in real time to medical facilities.

Sensave medical alert clothing. more...

(votes: +1)

This product is designed so that you can roll on the floor laughing when someone claims that you have a cool jacket. Its just a shame that it isn’t.

Battery Powered Air Conditioned Clothing. more...

(votes: -1)

Based upon Futurist sculpture from Boccioni, these boots contain accelerometers which allow them to expand into a more fluid shape, the faster the wearer walks.

Muk Luk Flux kinetic shoes. more...

(votes: -2)